By Katy Killilea Are your kids getting more and more curious about how the world works? Our hearts might always belong to Lego, but some new games, toys, and gizmos are working their way in. We tried lots of stuff and loved these especially. Rainbow Maker: This is a five-inch, solar-powered rotating crystal. It adheres with a suction cup to a clean window that gets plenty of sunshine. Once the sun hits the solar panel, visible gears start cranking and the prism starts moving and your room

Friday's second session at the Net Impact North America conference was Cleantech Venture Capital Investing. After having interviewed two of the three panelists prior to the conference (posts are here and here), the panel itself was an opportunity to think more deeply about the lessons offered by some of the most experienced players in the cleantech sector. The panelists were three managing directors at Philadelphia-based VC firms: from left to right, Joyce Ferris, David Lincoln, and Tucker Twit

Build Solar Panel Kits: The Simple Tools That Can Save You The Energy And Your Electricity Bills To buy solar panels can literally cost you thousands of dollars. Somehow people do not see it as a good investment. Therefore, a lot of people are thinking of making ones. Is it possible? Of course, anyone can make use of DIY home solar panels. You will not only be able to make ones but you will also enjoy making them. ¶ Posted 21 November 2008 † Jim Somchai § Home Improvement ‡ Comments (0) ° Ta

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Australian investment in solar power systems could reach as much as A$17.9 billion ($11 billion) over the next 20 years with the introduction of a bonus payment program for renewable energy, the Clean Energy Council said.

As choices for commercial solar power systems continue to expand due to innovations such as concentrating solar, mechanical solar and thin film solar panels, choices for home solar power systems are still limited to standard silicon wafer-based photovoltaic solar panels. While standard solar panels may look the same, their performance varies widely, and is measured a number of different ways. The most informative measure of performance is conversion efficiency, or what percentage of light ene